Multiplayer Servers

So, you're tired of having your house blown up and stuff stolen on the public server you play on? Finding the best Minecraft servers to play on is oftentimes a hit or miss. You want your own private Minecraft server for you and your personal friends to use? This page gives you the details on how to set up your own physical server, and once you have that set up, all you need to do is decide how you want to run it.

To run a minecraft server at home, all you need is to go here and download the server files. Depending on your router/modem you'll need to enter your IP address into your internet browser, ie 192.68.1.2 or another ip simular, and portforward 25565 because that is Minecraft's default port (unless changed in settings). After portforwarding it looks for a public IP address related to that and it should be ready for anyone to join and play.

Minecraft Realms is a "work in progress" by Mojang. Perhaps probably the easiest form of having the server when it gets released as hardly no set-up is required. At the moment, it's only vanilla, but will probably support plugins in the future when mojang creates their own API replacing bukkit and will allow for plugins to be used in single player as listed in upcoming features.

Almost the same as the above but not having to worry about portforwarding you get an IP address that is a direct link to the server, a FTP account to access the server and add files or remove them. Now there is a huge difference between Dedicated and Virtual Servers. Dedicated servers run better than Virtual, but, Dedicated are much more expensive than Virtual servers. Virtual servers range from $5-100 USD (usually a monthly fee) where Dedicated servers range from $100-1000 USD all depending on what you need, which company you're hosting with and so on.

If you so choose, you can also build a dedicated server out of an old computer you may have lying around the house. By installing nothing but an operating system and the Minecraft Server software, this is far better for performance than running the software on a computer you are frequently using. A word of caution however: This method is only for those with some computer know-how as getting everything set up and working can be quite a struggle and also will have to have:

After you have your physical server set up, all you need to do is figure out how you want to run your server, which can significantly alter how the game is played. There are three server types to choose from:

As stated under "Physical Servers", Minecraft Realms is a "work in progress" feature. At the moment it is currently unavilible to most of the public apart from 100 lucky testers. It should be easiest to set up as it practically doesn't need any apart from inviting people to your server and renaming it if you wish. At the moment it's only vanilla but properly will be supporting when Mojang creates their own API replacing bukkit. More info can be found by clicking the "Minecraft Realms" Link at the top of this paragraph.

Bukkit allows for modification and possibly enhancement of basic gameplay. For more specific information, click [here].

However, a word to the wary:

Running a Bukkit server is much more complicated for both personal computer servers and dedicated servers. Why? Well, the more players you have, the more lag will become apparent. The easiest fix for this is to test and see when you get lag because of too many players on at once. Once you've established how many players can be on without severely lagging the server, set this as the player cap. You'll also need to be careful of how many modifications you add, because this will also contribute to lag and may lower the amount of players you can have on at once.

Try using a so-called "white-list" server before allowing people onto your private one. This is basically a server (and it can be public, don't worry) you use to create your list of VIPs that will be "white-listed" or, allowed to play, on your private server. This will hopefully protect your server from unsavory characters, as well as find you new people to recruit.

Plugins are free for the most part and can be used to modify how servers run. By using certain plugins you can set server specific admin roles, award player achievements and a whole lot of other things.

Go for it! This is the world you can use to show off to your friends, so build as big as you want (so long as you don't lag the server, of course)